Business Extra

Things to come BRITAIN’S  Foreign Secretary James Cleverly warned that armed conflict between China and Taiwan  would destroy world trade, dealing a catastrophic blow to the global economy. Discussing Britian’s relations with Beijing, Cleverly said no country could shield itself from the repercussions of a war in Taiwan.  

Fair shares SPAIN’S capital gains tax charged at a maximum of 26 per cent when selling shares is 6.45 percentage points higher than the EU’s 19.55 per cent. The Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Slovenia charge nothing at all, while Belgium charges 0.15 per cent on transactions over €1 million.

Off the menu PREZZO, affected by soaring energy and food costs, will close 46 loss-making Italian restaurants in towns where the post-Covid recovery has proved harder than the private equity-owned chain had anticipated. Approximately 810 workers were at risk of redundancy due to the overhaul, Prezzo said.

Fast lanes SPANISH toll road company Albertis is bidding a total of €6 billion for three contracts to manage the Attica motorway in Athens, four motorways in Puerto Rico and the 16.5-kilometre State Highway 288 in Houston. With two lanes in each direction this is one of the busiest roads in Texas.

Downsizing JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP will halve the size of its central London headquarters now that thousands of employees work from home.  The offices occupy 220,000 square feet (approximately 2,044 square metres) but only half of that is being used and some floors have been completely closed off.

Stat of the week: €76 million is the amount of a government contract awarded to Hispasat to close the digital gap by providing Spain’s rural areas with a broadband internet connection until December 2027.

Power play ITALY’S government, a major shareholder in Enel, recently dismissed Francesco Strarace, the power company’s longstanding CEO. Enel, the parent company of Spain’s Endesa in which it has a 70 per cent holding, is now rumoured to be seeking a substitute for the latter company’s CEO Jose Bogas, to the disquiet of the Spanish government.

Team spirit SPAIN’S First and Second Divisions are in profit again after their losses during the pandemic. According to the estimate announced on May 4 by LaLiga, to which the 42 clubs belong, they will have made a net profit of €27 million by the end of the season, compared with the €1.039 billion losses incurred in 2020 and 2021.

No nest-egg ONE in four people aged between 25 and 49 save nothing and would have no safety net in an emergency, a YouGov survey for wealth manager True Potential found.  Forty per cent have slashed the amount they save each month owing to the cost of living, while those who  save put aside less than £50 (€57.13) a month.

Listen up AT Unilever’s annual general meeting, 58 per cent of participating shareholders voted against the consumer goods group’s pay report for 2022. Unilever said it was disappointed by the outcome, while stressing that the vote was advisory rather than binding. “We are committed to shareholder engagement and will listen carefully to feedback,” the company added.

Pay up A VISIT to Hampton Court gardens, open to the public since Queen Victoria’s reign, was once free but now costs up to £29 (€33). Hampton Court, owned by the royal family, blamed financial difficulties after the Covid pandemic for locking its gates for the first time in 185 years.  

Different label TONI RUIZ, Mango’s chief executive since March 2020, told a La Vanguardia interviewer that the fashion chain wished to lose its “fast fashion” label.  “We have a team of 500 people designing 100 per cent of our clothes in Barcelona, working with best-quality, sustainable fabrics,” Ruiz said. 

Fast work Restaurant Group, which owns Wagamama, Frankie & Benny’s and Chiquitos, will close 23 outlets by the end of May.  The group, which currently runs 410 venues, intends to speed up closures after announcing earlier that it would shut 35 of its loss-making casual dining restaurants. 

Top earners BANCO SANTANDER’s millionaire executives increased by 37.62 per cent last year from 202 to 278 employees on more than €1 million annually, according to its Prudential Relevance Report 2022. BBVA’s millionaire employees also increased, although by 5.66 per cent to just 56 executives.

Not quite HEALTHCARE company Haleon’s profits fell slightly short of expectations in the first quarter as the consumer giant’s margins were affected by higher costs. The GlaxoSmithKline spinoff behind brands including Sensodyne toothpaste posted revenues of about £3 billion (€3.4 billion) for this year’s first quarter.